How to Write a Book Review?

Abstract

There are two approaches to book reviewing: Descriptive reviews give the essential information about a book. This is done with description and exposition, by stating the perceived aims and purposes of the author, and by quoting striking passages from the text. Critical reviews describe and evaluate the book, in terms of accepted literary and historical standards, and supports this evaluation with evidence from the text. The following pointers are meant to be suggestions for writing a critical review. Basic requirements To write a critical review, the reviewer must know two things: Knowing the work under review: This demands not only attempting to understand the author's purpose and how the component parts of the work contribute to that purpose, but also knowledge of the author: his/her nationality, time period, other works etc. Requirements of the genre: This means understanding the art form and how it functions. Without such context, the reviewer has no historical or literary standard upon which to base an evaluation.